The Ones Who Were Forgotten
by Technomad
Summary: Not all the victims of the war were remembered...until Luna Lovegood, with money from Aberforth Dumbledore's estate, set out to rectify that situation.


The Ones That Were Forgotten

a _Harry Potter_ fanfiction

by Technomad

Neville Longbottom looked up from his desk as Luna Lovegood came in. It was a few years after the end of Voldemort, but he was always glad to see one of Dumbledore's Army. "Hullo, Luna. How's life treating you?"

"Oh, very well. You do remember that Aberforth Dumbledore passed a year ago, don't you?" Neville paused and nodded. Luna was always quirky, but this was a little off-the-wall even for her.

"Well," Luna went on, giving Neville a bright smile, "he didn't have any living relatives, so he named Daddy and me as his executors. We've been working on fulfilling the terms of his will, and we're done with the last part of it. He left money for a special memorial to the war."

"Another memorial?" Neville was puzzled. He had been one of the featured speakers at the unveiling of the simple memorial to the dead of Dumbledore's Army, on the corner of Hogwarts' grounds, as well as the larger one to all the wizards and witches who had died, on the corner of Diagon and Knockturn Alleys. That one had all the names from both sides, with inscribed epitaphs chosen by family and friends, and was topped by a statue of a seated, weeping witch. Since its unveiling, the statue had come to be known as "Hogwarts Mourning." The name made sense, since almost all who had died on both sides had been Old Boys and Old Girls of the school.

"Yes. We want you there for its unveiling. Don't worry-" Luna gave him another smile-"nobody will ask you to make any speeches."

"Well, since you ask, I can't refuse." Neville stood up. "I've had to speak at the funerals of DA members, and at every patriotic celebration, so I've become used to public speaking, but just being part of the audience will be a pleasant change."

Luna reached out and took his hand, and they went out together to the street, where Luna hailed the Knight Bus.

When they got to where they were going, Neville looked around. They were on the grounds of Malfoy Manor. "Luna-you can't mean this place, can you?" Neville fought the temptation to draw his wand.

"Hush." Luna laid her hand over his. "Since the war, Draco and his mother have been working overtime to try to put things to rights, and they donated the land for this, as well as more money when the Aberforth Dumbledore estate ran dry." She smiled at him. "They had their own reasons, which you'll understand shortly."

Neville saw other people there that he recognized. Harry Potter, with Ginny in tow, and where Harry Potter was, his two best friends, Hermione and Ron Weasley, were, of course, not far away. Others were also there, but one person startled him. Draco Malfoy stood a little way apart from the others, but showed no signs of wanting to leave.

Luna noticed his startlement. "He's here for a good reason, and not just because his family donated the land for this." She nodded toward the reason they were there, a veiled monument that had been planted on a slight height, overlooking the smiling Wiltshire countryside.

"Who's doing the speaking?" Neville was curious.

"Hagrid." Neville looked at Luna in utter astonishment. Had she finally gone off her cork? She had always been strange, but this was odd even for her. Then Neville's eyes widened. Sure enough, it was Hagrid, heading toward the podium-there was no mistaking him!

When Hagrid came to the podium, the audience went quiet. Into the silence, Hagrid said: "I was s'prised to be asked t'do this, but when Miss Lovegood-" he nodded toward Luna, who gave him an encouraging smile-"'splained why, I understood. Makes a lot of sense, really. But then, Miss Lovegood generally does. Great woman, Miss Lovegood."

Hagrid paused, and there was a spatter of applause. Neville peeked at Luna, and smiled to himself at her blush. She was such a great person, and always tended to downplay herself and her doings. When she'd been awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, with Crossed Wands, she had tried to turn it down; it had taken direct orders from Neville and Harry, in their capacities as leaders of Dumbledore's Army, to get her to accept it. She had said "I'm not _brave_ enough to be a _coward_-I can see the consequences of _that_ too clearly." Accepting a medal for not being brave made no sense to her. She had never understood how much she had done for them, and how much she was loved.

Hagrid went on: "In any case, she told me that there was one group who helped a lot in the War, and do a lot for us elsewhere, who had never got the credit they deserved. She was right-and this is a monument to them!" He pulled a rope, and the tarpaulin over the monument fell away.

Neville looked at it, puzzled. The monument was a slab of white stone, carven with the images of animals. He recognized them; there was a pair of thestrals, a hippogriff, cats, dogs, a huge snake, owls, and-"Is that a _basilisk_?"

"Yes." Luna looked sad. "The one Harry Potter killed had been imprisoned in the bowels of Hogwarts for centuries. The poor thing would almost certainly far rather have been hunting in the forest, like others of its kind."

"So what does this monument commemorate? And why am I here?"

"It commemorates some victims of the war who were forgotten. Look more closely." Neville peered at the monument. His eyes went wide as he read the inscription.

"So that's why I'm here! It's for Trevor!"

"Yes." Luna looked around. "Harry's here for Hedwig-" she pointed at the monument, where one of the sculpted owls did bear a strong resemblance to Harry's lamented, unforgotten familiar. "Hermione's here for Crookshanks. Everybody who's here lost a pet or a familiar. Since Hagrid lost so many, he was a natural to speak."

"Even Draco?"

"Yes. He had an eagle-owl he'd raised from an egg. The Dark Lord killed it before his eyes when he moved into Malfoy Manor, just to show Draco who his master now was. Draco cried when he told me."

Neville had a hard time seeing Draco Malfoy as a human being with feelings, but he remembered how pitifully glad the Malfoys had been to be back together right after the demise of Voldemort. And he remembered Draco's eagle-owl. He had been a magnificent bird, and Draco had clearly taken a great deal of pride in him. He thought back to Trevor, and felt unwilling sympathy with Draco.

Harry had stepped up to the monument. He held out his hand, and ran it lightly over the sculpted owl that looked so like Hedwig. As he stepped away, Neville could see tears in his eyes, and Ginny and Hermione both hugged him.

"Do they have a toad there?"

"Of course! Let me show you!" Neville allowed Luna to take his hand and lead him toward the monument, and as he looked more closely, he saw a toad, peeking out from behind the cat. For a second, his breath caught in his throat.

"This was a really good idea, Luna," he said, trying hard to talk as though he didn't have a lump in his throat.

"Aberforth thought that we shouldn't forget about them. Come, it's starting to rain. We should

As he walked away, he turned for one last look at the monument, and its inscription.

_This monument is raised in memory of all the animals who fell victim to war in the magical world, and died in service to their witches and wizards._

_They__ had no choice._

The End


End file.
